Fainaru fantajî IV

As one of the older Final Fantasy games, Final Fantasy IV (originally released as FFII in the U.S.) is one of those early games mostly neglected by the surge of Final Fantasy fans that came in after FFVII. As a game, this installment is set in the more traditional fantasy sense, where there's less emphasis on technology and more on the mystical. Each character has their own specified job, and contrary to what most people who give negative reviews for this game suggest, each one has a distinct personality that really shouldn't take much time to notice. While you're not given a huge in-depth look on the past of most characters, that's not the point of the game. This entry in the series focuses on the journey, the struggle to overcome obstacles to reach the intended goal. All characters must endure and push through some kind of handicap, and each comes out stronger for it.

The traditional modes of transportation exist in this game: foot, chocobos, and airship. However, there are many permutations of each, some of which reappear later in the series. The same can be said of key locations, items, equipment, and concepts: many started with this game that come back later in the whole set of Final Fantasy games. This does not mean this game eventually turned Final Fantasy into the powerhouse it is today, it simply means that it had a big hand in shaping the direction it went.

Music in this game accurately portrays the overall mood, as Nobuo Uematsu often does in his compositions. Fights feel that much more exciting, while sad seems are that much more emotional. Meanwhile, the graphics are fairly well-developed and colorful despite the fact that this was one of the games before the Playstation introduced polygons in place of pixels.

For fights, the traditional Active Time Battle system is in place in this period. Unlike some later Final Fantasy games, each character has a definitive, specific role for each battle, rather than a minor suggestive direction by the game creators. One character mostly uses Black Magic and excels at it, while another has a particular battle skill. The abilities of Fight, Black Magic, White Magic, and Item are commonplace for specific characters throughout the game, but not all characters have all 4 of these choices. In actuality, only two of the four are on every single character: Fight and Item. This game doesn't lend the characters to flexibility, and while that may seem bad to some people, it indirectly adds a sense of identity to the characters. White Magic infers that the character is very caring and self-sacrificing, for instance. This game, unlike many others, actively involves the battle system itself as important to the overall experience, rather than turning it into just a fun thing to do on a Saturday morning.

For the person who simply wants to kill monsters, be entertained by fancy graphics, and doesn't like to think too intently on the subject matter, this one is not for you. But for those who enjoy thinking about their gaming experience more deeply and are heavy in philosophy, this might become one of the shining gems of your collection if you choose to play it.

This is truly THE BEST game ever made. It was the first RPG I ever played... I have never seen a game this good. Other games have come close, but this is THE BEST EVER. EVER!!!! I can't believe how cool the story and the characters are. Everything about this game is PERFECT!!!!!!!! IF YOU CAN FIND A COPY, BUY IT!!!!!!!!!!!

In 1991, a little known company gaming company known as Square(soft) in Japan released the fourth segment of it's Final Fantasy series. Little did they know (or maybe they did) where it would lead them.

I would call Final Fantasy IV the "sleeper hit" of the series. It was considered by the few who got their hands on it back in the early 90's their "favorite video game ever". It had rave reviews, and started to garner a cult-like rpg gamer following. And of course, in every aspect, it deserved it.

Hironobu Sakaguchi did a wonderful job in giving depth, for what can be disputed as the first time, to a video game rpg character. The main character of this video game "Cecil" starts out as a "bad guy" with a conscience. Of course, this may be considered cliche nowadays, but back in 1991, it was quite revolutionary. Cecil's predicament, although it may not be original, is a moving one.

Cecil, the dark knight, is the captain of the Red Wings, the Kingdom of Baron's "air force". His story starts with the war mongering of his liege in search for the all-powerful Crystals, which's purposes are shrouded in mystery. After a battle in the mage town of Mysidia, Cecil, torn between his duty and his guilt, confronts his King asking him why he is on this blood-thirsty conquest, and he is promptly banished from the Kingdom on an errand with his Dragoon friend Kain, to make up for this mistake. One must ask, will Cecil ever stand up to his liege and confront his inner demons? Here is where this epic adventure begins.

Following this neat intro, we are introduced to a vast array of different characters that Cecil encounters in his quest; to name a few, Rosa, Rydia, Yang, Palom, Porom, Tellah, and the first of the famous "Cid" characters in the Final Fantasy series. There is a HUGE world to explore (for a 1991 rpg) with many different terrains (even the moon), many different and interesting antagonists (Golbez, the Four fiends), and a mass of evil monsters to be destroyed.

Nubuo Uematsu shines with his inspiring music in this game. This was his first opportunity to show his composing skills and develop a full and rich soundtrack. I was amazed, when this game first came out, at how "orchestrated" a video game can sound...It is no surprise now that Nubuo is now a highly acclaimed composer, both in and out of video game music. If you are a fan, give this soundtrack a listen...These are his roots.

All in all, I give Final Fantasy IV a very biased 5 stars...Although it is reasonably disputed that Final Fantasy 6 and 7 are better overall games, this one will hold a place in my heart. It was the funder of 6...it shaped the things to come.

I love this game as much as I love the other Final Fantasies, this game is really cool. The game is about Cecil is returning to the kingdom of Baron after a raid in Mysidia for the Water Crystal, the soldiers in the airship atone for a moment when they're attacked by monsters and Cecil defeats them both, succesfully they land to Baron safe and sound and then Cecil gives the Water Crystal to the king of Baron then Cecil asked the king why they had to take the crystal of Mysidia by the force.

The King of Baron accuses Cecil of treason and strips him from his command as captain of the Red Wings of Baron and sends him to Misty Village to get rid of the summoners to prove his loyalty.

Well i'm not telling a lot more for the ones who haven't played the game very much.

I assure you people that this Final Fantasy game is one of the best FF games you have ever played, great story, awesome music and great battle system.

If you download it to play it on the emulator, I suggest you to download the hardtype, it's a lot better than the easytype.

I was not a huge fan of the first Final Fantasy game, however, I loved this game when it was released as Final Fantasy II. It was just vastly different at the time to anything I was used to. I loved the scenes where the characters acted own their own to add to the story, the music seemed great, and the story was very well played out. The fighting was good too, but this game was mainly story based as the story was more important than the fighting. Here it is turned based, and even though today it looks a bit odd seeing basically a picture blink to indicate an attack it is still great in its simplicity. The story follows Cecil who is a dark knight on a quest for redemption and to discover the mystery's of the crystals. He finds many comrades to aid him along the way, and villains to try and obstruct it. You have your basic element villains and other villains who seem to have connections with our heroes. There is nothing like this game still as the story still sparks emotion as there is a lot of self sacrifice to occur. You travel many lands in this one, including the lands of the drawf and you even get to fly into space. You have your humorous characters and you have your super magic attacks and summons. In this one the characters are also all rather unique unlike other final fantasy where there are no real differences between characters. So all in all still one of the best.